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"Dreamstate (2015) " is a complete remix and remaster of the 2012 sophomore album from Axon-Neuron.

"Dreamstate" is a continuation of the rich, jazz-harmony and orchestrally influenced progressive rock sound of the 2011 debut album, "Brainsongs," but with a new influence of Meshuggah and Animals As Leaders inspired progressive metal. The arrangements are denser and more complex, and some new sounds are explored with the guitars and keyboards. Vocalist Sandra Kung joins the group for this release, contributing piano to many tracks, with Joe Leaman taking over the keyboard chair, exclusively playing the Fender Rhodes on this album. Guitarist and composer Jeremey Poparad utilizes the Roland GR-55 guitar synth on the opening track, "Bloom," (the only true keyboard on this track is Joe Leaman's Rhodes), as well as a custom 9-string electric guitar, which spans an octave below and a fourth above a conventional 6-string. Bassist Matt DeRubertis takes the spotlight on "Soñar," utilizing a variety of effects to create a haunting, high-pitched melody with his bass. Drummer Elliot Wallace rounds out the band, and lastly, returning again is the studio string orchestra, expanding the sound of the group on a number of tracks.

Another point of interest is the final track of the album, "Danseuses de Delphes," by 19th century French impressionistic composer Claude Debussy, arranged for the group by Jeremey Poparad. Originally a work for solo piano, as part of his two books of preludes.

"Dreamstate" has been completely reworked to create a mix that is more balanced and full than the original, with superior clarity of all the interwoven sounds on these dense compositions. Both "Dreamstate" and "Brainsongs" will be receiving a sonic update in 2015 in preparation for the group's forthcoming third album, "Metamorphosis."

I will be your port of safe harbor
In rough seas I will be your anchor
I will be a shelter from the maelstrom

In a prior scene
Your companions promised the moon
As a chimera in a dream,
They showed their evanescent nature and fled so soon

Despite those deserters' show of character so poor
I will weather the storms and squalls
I will remain through the tide's rise and fall
We will intrepidly embrace the world we explore

I will be your port of safe harbor
In rough seas I will be your anchor
Holding fast waiting for you faithfully
Shore to shore, sea to sea, here I'll be
I will be a shelter from the maelstrom

Track Name: The Fountain

The air is mostly still
An almost imperceptible breeze drifts by
The night sky is overcast
No Moon at all to remedy this darkness
Absent from its celestial post

Instead a lamppost burns for me
That unnatural orange-pink glow illuminates
I am here again tonight
Like on so many previous nights
Again I pay visit to an old friend
To hear him speak his timeless speech

He is silent Tonight

My friend, the fountain, typically sputters and gargles, hisses and roars
It is of course nothing but babble
But I'm soothed by it anyway
The chaos and the crashing
So constant is this disorder that it fades away
Replaced by a soft, even nothingness

No matter how extremely strong these turbulent storms
They're drowned out under the waves of noise
The pouring rain becomes a drop in the ocean
The raging hurricane acquiesces to an infinite sea of tranquility

Tonight my friend is silent
The water drained, the pools dry as a bone
He, too, is absent from his post

He is silent Tonight

Track Name: The Stars

The Earth stands still, wrapped in dark wings
The bed of shimmer solace, drift in a sea of sleep
Alone the traveler gazes past the stones
Before the blazing colors, the anatomy of the sun

And all the world can't see
The life that drifts so free

The stars

The trails of light leave us blinded,
The silent giants in the ring, leave us breathless
The traveler wonders how he got here
A heaven beyond the dreams, a light behind the dark

It took me a while to find it (because it isn't on Spotify), and although I love the pop style of Land Animal, Say So quickly became my favorite Bent Knee album. It feels so cohesive and it plays enormously to the strengths of Bent Knee, showcasing their vision with charm. Dakota Modovsky